MISDEAL OF JUSTICE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17954, 5 December 1932, Page 9

MISDEAL OF JUSTICE

CASE OF ADOLPH BECK IDENTirICATiON MISTAKE GISBORNE ROTARY ADDRESS ■ ■ Although the British system of criminal justice is admittedly the best m the world, mistakes have occurred m tue past, and among the most famous was that of Adolph Beck. An outline of the circumstances in this interesting instance of mistaken identity was given to Gisborne Rotarians at to-day s luncheon by Rotarian F. W. Nolan, who holds the position of Crown Prosecutor at Gisborne. _ , Adolph Beck, said Mr. Nolan, was convicted on two separate occasions for crimes which it was proved afterwards he did not commit. The conviction or an innocent man was extremely rare m our judicial history, added the speaker. The English system of justice was rm garded as the finest in the whole world. In France, an accused man came first before a court which was presided over by one who was called a judge, but who in reality was a prosecutor who did his best by all possible means, short of torture, to extract a confession, the accused later going to the higher court to be tried by a jury. A similar system prevailed in other European countries. The American system was chiefly trial by newspapers, which, consciously or unconsciously, colored the atmosphere before the case was dealt with by the court. p A FAIR TRIAL In our own country, a man was brought first before a magistrate, who decided if there was a- prirna facie case, and if there was the accused was committed to the Supreme Court for trial. In the upper court, the case first went to the grand jury, which considered the facts and aiso decided whether there was enough bvideilce to warrant the Supreme Court proceeding with it. When an accused person is before a jury, he could be convicted only if ail 12 "men on the jury were unanimous. If the accused was convicted previously for some offence, this fact was not mentioned to the jury. The object was that every possible factor making for fairness in trial was to be observed, nothing that tended to be unfair being permitted, in the belief that it was better that a dozen guilty men should go free rather than that one innocent man should be punished. Continuing, the speaker said that in his own experience there was only one convicted man of whose guilt he had had any dohbt, and the case was decided only after a second trial; the accused man in that case did not give evidence.

Turning to the Beck case, Mr. Nolan said that Beck was born in Norway in 1841, and at the age of 16 he went to sea. After returning to Norway for a short time, he went to London in 1865, staying there until 1868, when he went to South America, where lie remained for 18 years. When he arrived back in London in 1885 Beck was moderately wealthy, and went to Norway where lm bought some mines, coming back to London later to live, llis investments, however, did not turn out well, and in 1894 and 1885 he was in poor circumstances. FORMER CASES In 1877 a number of swindles were perpetrated on a number of women in London. In the first case which was reported to the police, a man struck, up an 'acquaintance with "a woman with whom lie arranged to live. The mail gave her a cheque and orders for clothing and took rings from the woman with the expressed intention ef securing other jewellery for her. This was the last the woman saw of the man. Later, reports were received from two otner women of similar swindles.

Shortly afterwards a man named William Augustus Wyatt, who was also known as John Smith, was arrested and convicted on charges concerning these occurrences, and was sentenced to five years’ penal servitude. 3n 1879, something happened that became very material in after years, although it was considered trivial at the time. Wyatt applied to have his religion altered from that of a Protestant to that of a Jew. A medical examination was made and his religion was altered in the records as requested. Wyatt Was released from gaol in 1881 on license, and he went to Australia, practicing as a doctor in 'Adelaide for a time, lie was back in London in 1894 and was cnarged with trying to negotiate a bad letter of credit, hut there was insufficient evidence and the man was released. FOLLOWED BY BELGIAN GIRL, In December, 1894, there began an exact repetition of the events of 1877, and by the end of October tlie following year the police had records of 10 women having been defrauded of jewellery in the same method as in 1877. Then, a Belgian girl, living in London, saw Beck standing in a doorway in Victoria street. She followed as Beck moved down the street, and, becoming awaro that he was being followed, Beck complained to a police constable. The girl came up and charged Beck with defrauding her of jewellery. The constable was nonplussed, and so he took both to the police station, where the girl’s story was taken and Beck’s not listened to. After being formally charged, Beck was placed in a row with other men for identification ton numerous occasions Several Women declared that Beck was the map who had defrauded them, some were doubtful and otoe was definite that ho was not the man. It came undoi the notice of the police that the crimes were exactly similar to those of 1877, and they secured members of the Police

Force who Were Concerned with the 1877 investigations, and two of these men identified Beck as being Wyatt. Beck was brought before 'the court on

two sepaite indictments. On the first, he was charged on 10 counts of obtaining money by fraud. The second indictment mentioned four counts and that Beck, had been previously convicted. The first indictment was proceeded with but the second Was not.

THE FIRST MISTAKE At the hearing, evidence was submitted by the Crown to show that the handwriting in the letters'to the women and on the cheques were the same, but when the counsel for the defence crossexamirfed the witness on the matter of handwriting compared with the exhibits at the 1877 trial, ail objection was raised by the Crown that this line of crossexamination might disclose the man’s prior and the judge sustained the ejection, 'this was the first mistake made in the trial,„ and it was generally conceded that the ruling of the judge in this respect Was wrong, seeing that it was the defence that was trying to bring out the facts. Beck was- in Brazil at the time of the 1877 frauds, but the ruling of the judge could not be attacked, and the defence was precluded from proving this point. Eventu- - ally, Beck was conviYtcd and sentenced to seven years’ penal servitude. WvStt wn? in Bonder) at this time, hut lie disappeared in 1897, and was not seen in London again until Aminst, 1593, after having been in America in the interval. When Beck was placed in prison, he had tlw number DW523, the letters indicating that he hsd been pre-

viously convicted. On May 19, 1898, the governor of the prison discovered that the prison medical records showed that the present prisoner could not bo Wyatt. That information was not used at once, but it was later communicated to the Home Office. Beck’s counsel was refused permission to see Beck’s records at the prison and received no satisfaction from other inquiries, but in July the case was referred to the Common Sergeant. However, the records of the case were found to be imperfectly written and that some of the important information had been omitted, and the Home Office wrote to Keck’s solicitor that it could not interfere. In August of that year, Beck’s number at the gaol Was changed from that allotted to a previously convicted man, an indication that the Home Office was confident that their prisoner was not Wyatt. A SECOND ARREST

Beck was released on license in 1901, but though lie tried to secure evidence to prove his Innocence lie could not do so. Wyatt was back in London in 1903, and very soon tile same type of frauds began again. Between August 1903 and April 1904, five women complained to the police, and Beck was again arrested on identification by one of the victims. He was ngfrin convicted, but the judge, postponed sentence till the following session of the court, a delay of about two months. , Ton days later, while Beck was still in prison, more complaints of the same typo of crime were received, and this time the police arrested Wyatt. Beck was released on July 19 and given a free pardon on his two convictions, and Wyatt was convicted and sentenced to five years’ penal servitude. A special inquiry made into the Beckcase took months to complete, and the. report, when it came out, whitewashed everybody except a minor clerk in the Home Office. Beck was compensated to tho extent of J&000 after his release, but the money was all gone in 1906 when Bock died in hospital. The essential statement made in the Beck report was: “Evidence of identity based on personal impression, however bona fide, is perhaps of all classes oi evidence the least to be relied on, and, therefore, unless supported by other facts, an unsafe basis for the verdict of a jury.” A -hearty vote of thanks was passed to the speaker on the motion of UotarianWTowArd Kenway. Rotarian C. H. Bull presided at the luncheon.